This invention relates generally to improved blank and plunger cooling. More particularly, this invention relates to improved blank and plunger cooling for use in conjunction with a glass forming machine of the press and blow type which is a single table, continuous rotary machine having a plurality of individual forming units mounted for rotation about the axis of the machine. This type of machine is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 1,979,211 which issued on Oct. 30, 1934 to G. E. Rowe. Machines of this type are commonly used in the glass industry today and are known as the "Emhart H-28 Machine." The type of machine shown in the No. 1,978,201 U.S. patent is a single gob machine. That is, at each forming unit, only one piece of ware is produced during a single cycle of each forming unit.
The improved version of the machine is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,339,264 issued to Francis A. Dahms on July 13, 1982, which patent is hereby incorporated by reference in this disclosure in its entirety. This type of machine shown in the patent is a double gob machine. That is, it forms two articles of ware during one cycle of each given forming unit.
Each forming unit on the machine shown in the 4,339,264 patent has inner nd outer plungers and inner and outer blank mold side walls and inner and outer blank mold bottom walls all which must be cooled by a fluid such as air. The inlet cooling conduits to each of these mechanisms to be cooled were provided with an adjustment valve which was required to be adjusted to change the amount of cooling each mechanism would receive. Thus there were six valves that required adjustment on a given forming unit to change the cooling of the plunger and blank molds. In a machine with 12 forming units as shown in the 4,339,264 patent, 72 valves are required to be adjusted for proper operation of the machine. The requirement of having to adjust 72 valves was a relatively inefficient way of controlling the amount of cooling to the plungers and blank molds and resulted in a reduction of the performance of the machine.